‘Why We Attacked The Churches’-Boko Haram

A purported spokesman for Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attacks and threatened further violence.

“We are responsible for the suicide attack on a church in Jos and also another attack on another church in Biu,” the spokesman calling himself Abul Qaqa told reporters in the northeastern city of Maiduguri in a phone conference.

“We launched these attacks to prove the Nigerian security wrong and to debunk their claim that we have been weakened by the military crackdown,” he said, speaking in the Hausa language common throughout Nigeria’s north.

“The Nigerian state and Christians are our enemies and we will be launching attacks on the Nigerian state and its security apparatus as well as churches until we achieve our goal of establishing an Islamic state in place of the secular state.”

The attacks took place at evangelical churches in the central city of Jos and the northeastern town of Biu, both of which have been hit before by violence blamed on Boko Haram.

“The suicide bomber did not drive into the church before the explosion. He was in front of it,” police spokesman Abuh Emmanuel said of the Jos attack. “The church building collapsed entirely due to the intensity of the bombing.”

Local government spokesman Pam Ayuba told AFP that two people plus the bomber died and 41 were wounded.

A reporter at the scene said angry Christian youths assaulted local Muslims after the bombing.

The second attack killed at least one person and wounded several when gunmen opened fire during a service in Biu, Samson Bukar, the local Christian Association of Nigeria chairman, told AFP.

“One female worshipper was killed while several others were wounded, two of them critically. The gunmen escaped after the attack,” Bukar said.

Italy’s International Cooperation Minister Andrea Riccardi condemned the attack and called for international action to stop Boko Haram.

“Christian blood has again been spilt in Nigeria according to a now clear plan of ethnic and religious cleansing,” said Riccardi, who is also the founder of a Catholic charity active in Africa.

“The international community can no longer look on at this massacre of innocent people without intervening.”

Boko Haram’s attacks have grown increasingly sophisticated and have begun affecting a wider area, spreading from their base in the northeast across the wider north and down to the capital Abuja, in the centre of the country.

It claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja in August that killed at least 25 people and a suicide attack on the Abuja office of one of the country’s most prominent newspapers.

Its deadliest attack yet occurred in the northern city of Kano in January, when at least 185 people died in coordinated bombings and shootings.

Boko Haram also claimed a bomb attack at a church near the capital on Christmas day that killed at least 44 people.

Jos lies on the fault line between the Muslim-majority north and the Christian-dominated south.

In addition to the recent Boko Haram violence, repeated cycles of clashes and reprisal attacks in and around Jos have left several thousand people dead in recent years.

Biu is located in the northeastern state of Borno, which has been Boko Haram’s base.

The group’s mosque and headquarters were located in the Borno state capital of Maiduguri until a 2009 military assault destroyed them, an operation that left some 800 people dead.

Heavy-handed military crackdowns have so far failed to stop the group. Members are believed to have received training in northern Mali from Al-Qaeda’s north African branch.

An attempt at dialogue between the government and Boko Haram in March collapsed when a mediator quit and a spokesman for what is seen as the group’s main faction said they could not trust the government.

31 thoughts on “‘Why We Attacked The Churches’-Boko Haram”

why won’t boko haram continue 2 attack when badluck is a weakling. Our so called president is a failure. i totally support that he should step down. Let someone who knows about Governance rule us. Is it by force 2 live in aso rock? Bombings every week. i prefer to stay in my house and worship God besides those that don’t go to church are better than those who go. why should the police and army be in the barracks at these crucial or critical times? THESE BOKO HARAM PPLE SHLD TAKE TIME

THE NORTH HAS VIRTUALLY NOTHING TO CONTRIBUTE IN BUILDING A 21ST CENTURY NIGERIA. IT CANT ONLY BOAST OF ARMY OF BEGGARS, ILLITERATES AND HYPOCRITE. NIGER REPUBLIC SHARES BOARDER WITH NIGERIA WHICH TO A LARGER EXTENT SHARE CULTURE,RELIGION ETC. BUT SURPRISINGLY, NIGER HAS NEVER WITNESS SOMETHING LIKE. IS A BIG SHAME TO THE SO CALLED NORTH.

Foolish u are claiming 2 be elite but your post shows that you are incapacitated you better go to school & read history or you can ask your peoples that are here b4 the discovery of petroleum resourses they will tell u the position of the north 4 the development of nigeria as a nation

boko haram knows that they are eating and dancing with the devil.because they know that there religion is not a true religion. let them explain to the whole world where is in the qua ran the birth of prophet Mohammad .but inside the qua ran chapter 19;16–34 have explain the birth of Jesus Christ ,also qua ran chapter 33;40 Mohammad denied the Muslim of not being their father .qua ran chapter 46;9 even Mohammad told the Muslim that him self he don,t know his own faith so the person that you believe in him so much said he don,t know what will happen to him and instead of you to relax ,you keep disturbing him.so what will be your gain. let them explain the reason why they pray 5 times in a day, that can be found in qua ran chapter 106;3-5 inside the Kaaba there five idle and each idle have his own time of worship and that is the reason prophet Mohammad told them that they should not forget their idle.so why killing the christian.they should came out and accept Jesus as their personal lord and Savior that is the only way they can have peace .

samdi islam is about the worship of one God. prophet muhammed is a messenger he came and the true way to worship God was given to him muslems do not follow him but God . when you read the quaran you wil find the way God said we should worship him . You can not show me any place in the bible that show you how to worship God a religion without a term of reference you just do what u like as for those who are spoiling the name of islam we leave them with God

It seems Boko Haram has no love for those outside their faith – they love only those who love them. They love neither God nor man but serve the cause of Satan – at least that’s how it works out since the devil is himself a murderer from the beginning.

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